


Feline fine

by Donya



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Cats, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 08:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7750582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Donya/pseuds/Donya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony and Loki's cat Bob is sick. On top of that, Loki acts strangely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Feline fine

When Bob the cat was two years old, Tony realised the true reason why he never wanted to have a non-robotic pet. Those living ones get sick and not only cannot tell what pains them, but also try to hide the illness from the owners.  

Bob usually enjoyed the company of his humans, yet one evening he disappeared and Loki found him under the bathtub. Bob seemed to struggle with eliminating a particularly large hairball. Loki stressed the cat even more by his attempts to help him. Tony joined them, alarmed at first and relieved it wasn't anything serious.

'Do something!' Loki urged Tony, assuming that a Midgardian surely knows how to help a Midgardian pet.

'Shouldn't we just let him deal with it on his own?' Tony suggested, knowing how much sick cats hate a company.

'What if he's suffocating? Stark, time for brilliant ideas!'

Tony picked Bob up and kept him in the upright position, then also massaged Bob's back. As any other pet in a similar situation, Bob pretended he was feeling better just to be released. Once put back on the floor, he crawled under the tub again and continued his helpless retching. 

Tony gave a sigh and looked at Loki. 'Don't you know some quick healing spell?'

Loki explained he had little knowledge of cats and couldn't predict Bob's reaction to magical treatment. Meanwhile, Bob won the battle with his own fur and emerged from his favourite hiding spot as if nothing had happened.

 

The following day, Bob's hairball problem returned twice. The third day, he fought with the stubborn hairball dozens of times and his forehead was warm, forcing Tony to utter the words they all dreaded, 'Maybe we should take him to the vet.' The idea of another traumatic trip involving a mobile prison cell for cats and vicious tortures (aka injections) was so hard to accept that Tony decided to call Bob's doctor first and describe the symptoms.

'What did he say?' Loki asked, stroking a sleeping Bob tenderly. 'Don't say a surgery is necessary.'

'No, he thinks Bob has caught a cold. He's been coughing all this time.'

'What? A cold? In August?'

'Yes. And we're taking him to the vet now,' Tony said grimly. 'Don't tell Bob just yet.'

The first step was to put on the we-are-going-to-the-vet clothes- old jeans and a thick hoodie that covers as much as possible to shield the skin from the sharp claws. While Loki prepared the carrier and Bob's little blanket, Tony fed the cat and played with him. As a creature loving small spaces, Bob happily jumped into the carrier and lay down, prepared for a pleasant nap. Only when the carrier was picked up did Bob realise his mistake and used the Claw of Punishment to stab Tony's leg as he was carried to the car. Securely fastened to the back seat, Bob switched the tactic to meowing pleadingly. Loki tried to distract him but Bob knew what was coming. The torturer was waiting for him, equipped with sharp needles and the scary steel examination table.

'Bobby, you have a fever and a sore throat. Unless you have an idea how to treat it on your own, we're taking you to the vet,' Tony explained in a loving yet firm tone that reminded him of something distant. He felt Loki's eyes on him and the silence between them suddenly felt heavy. 'What?'

'Nothing,' Loki turned to the cat. 'Eyes on the road, we have a vulnerable feline here.'

 

They were lucky, there was only one patient in the exam room and no one in the waiting room. They spent awful ten minutes on extracting an angry Bob from the carrier, the loud wails of distress alarmed the whole building that a poor cat was being abused. Yet the second he was out, Bob clung to Tony tightly, like a koala bear.

'There, there,' Tony patted his back, flattered by Bob's trust. Loki watched them with an enigmatic expression on his face and once again refused to say what was going on. Could he be jealous?

It was their turn and Bob was placed on the cold table, front paws held tightly by Tony. The vet listened to Bob's breath sounds, checked the temperature and confirmed his diagnosis. Bob looked up at Tony, begging him silently to save him from the vet, who said the cat required antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medication and the treatment would last four days. Then Bob was given five injections, one after another. Tony could hardly watch it. If only they could switch places! Bob was brave, didn't cry and lay still. He gladly returned to the carrier and then Tony noticed he was covered in loads of Bob's fur. With every moment, the fur fell off his clothes and hands and danced in the air. 

'Only three more days like that,' Tony consoled his heavy-breathing cat. 'This is for your own good.'

 

Bob coughed on the way back home as if he wanted to convince his owners to listen to the vet. Loki did what he could to comfort the poor feline.

'If you were a stray, no one would help you,' he pointed out, stroking Bob's head. 'You're lucky you're Tony's cat. He takes such a good care of you.'

Maybe it was Tony's imagination but Loki sounded weird again. What was wrong with him that day? Was it some Asgardian/Jotun thing that Tony wasn't able to comprehend? After three years of marriage, what secrets Loki still hid from him?

 

All that stress and fever exhausted Bob. Tony didn't want to leave him, regardless of how hard it was for him not to go to the lab. He stayed, did what Loki nagged him about so often and they all snuggled on the sofa, Bob curled on Tony's lap. A little family time, without any distractions. Bob twitched in his slumber, for sure he had a dream about the vet.

'It'd be much easier with a child,' Tony said quietly, not wanting to wake Bob. 'When they are small, they cannot fight, unlike cats and when they are bigger, you can explain to them that injections will make them feel better. Bob has no idea why we let a stranger hurt him. Children are less complicated.'

Loki kissed him and smiled broadly. 'I cannot believe this. You said it. The C word.'

'Cats?'

'Children. I've been watching you all day, the way you take care of Bob. You will be a remarkable father. Caring and affectionate but also strict when it's necessary.'

Tony waited for panic and the temptation to flee but nothing happened. Instead, he glanced at the furry creature he loved, protected, fed and entertained for the last two years. Bob was a typical, spoilt cat, fat and pleased with his life. Tony didn't harm him, even unintentionally, even though so many people doubted he was capable of looking after himself, not to mention someone or something else.

'But Lokes, isn't it true that children are for people who can't have cats?'

'You're such a crazy cat man. Let's have both. One of each. Imagine, Bob and Tony junior. Tony the younger. Tony Tony Stark. Everything you love about yourself in a new, upgraded version,' Loki tempted, his eyes shining brightly in excitement. 'One Tony Stark isn't enough, think about the youngest generations of Midgardians. They deserve to be exposed your genius, too.' 

'They do. I have to think about those young ones, you're right. We should bless the world with another me.'

'Perfect!' Loki clapped his hands, pleased as always when he got his way. 'We shall begin the preparations when Bob recovers.'

Bob, blissfully unaware of the terror ahead, slept peacefully. A relatively short torture time in the exam room was nothing compared to years of running away from an exuberant human kitten. Perhaps a super tall and elaborated cat tree would help Bob cope with the new threat. They could all be a big, happy family, against the odds.

**Author's Note:**

> My cat Pâté has caught a cold. How can a cat catch a cold, in freaking August? And the vet said there's no way to avoid it in the future, great.


End file.
